White Fragility

Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

In this "vital, necessary, and beautiful book" (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and "allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to 'bad people? (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

For those serious and earnest about learning and helping disrupt racism, this is a must read. You have to stick with it to the end. I thought I knew a lot already, but this book showed me that I had never gone all the way deep to the very core that might hurt. Truth can hurt and then the questions become why are we hurt and what are we going to do about it: learn and act or just withdraw?

Diangelo has written a concise and thoughtful book that will certainly give you pause, no matter how much you think you know about the topic of race. The most helpful thing this book does is recognize how we've confused the issue of racism by conflating it with a good/bad dichotomy. Racism, as a system, transcends whether we are good or bad people, and that is a terrific jumping off point for the rest of the book. Point by point, Diangelo does an excellent job of shining a light on our entrenched socialization and helps us face the ongoing work of becoming anti-racist.

I highly recommend this book! If you are someone that classifies as "white," try to approach it with a clear mind and open heart. You may at times feel angry or defensive but please keep reading. This is important work.

Certainly isn't a difficult subject for the PuppetMedia, as that appears to be the prevailing subject 24 hours a day on [Koch brothers-financed] NPR - - equally as nauseating as Fox. Since former holder of NPR-job-for-life, Robert Segal is appearing at WSU, perhaps they will query him on all the Fake News he has dispensed during his job-for-life with NPR?
[I recall the disinformational interview just prior to the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK, when some so-called journalist who wrote the Rambler column in a Georgia newspaper claimed he'd run into a woman who served in the US Navy and was supposed to have been stationed, in 1958, at Atsugi's rifle range, where this columnist claimed she told him that Lee Oswald practiced shooting there everyday. Of course, a simple check revealed there were no women stationed there working at the range in 1958, nor for many years at any rifle range, nor did she earlier have a sex change operation, et cetera. Always depend upon Robert Segal to never question anything at his job-for-life at NPR, which he's thankfully finally retired from!]
Identity politics is an easy substitute for ever reporting Real News, huh?
Now what SHOULD we be hearing more about on NPR:
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/dr-jumana-nagarwala-to-be-released-on-45-million-bond-while-awaiting-fgm-trial